Saturday, May 2, 2015

A Butterfly's Eye View - UV Nectar Guides

While identifying the Queen Alexandra's Sulpur butterflies in our backyard, we read that they are also sometimes called UV Sulphur butterflies. The male butterflies reflect UV light to attract females - or something like that. We didn't fully understand everything we read, but we wanted to check it out.

I made a quick butterfly net out of a hanger, and some netting, that came around our oranges, for the children...

...and sent them on a butterfly hunt.

Once we captured a specimen (and by we, I mean me - much to the amusement of our neighbors, I'm sure), we placed it into an empty fish bowl...

...so we could shine a UV flashlight onto it, in a dark room. It sort of glowed, but not in anyway that was impressive, so I'm thinking there's more to it, than we were seeing or understanding. Still, it was worth a try.

After we released our butterfly back into the wild, and watched it fly away, stunned but unharmed...

...we decided to take a look at one of the dandelions it was frequenting. This time our UV light revealed something interesting. The florets on the outer edge of the flower turned a light pink, while the center of the dandelion remained dark yellow. After a little more research we found out this is called a nectar guide.

Butterflies, like bees, and a number of other insects, don't see the color red, but do see some UV light. When viewed under a UV light, many flowers have patterns that indicate nectar, and draw insects in like a bullseye.

We won't be looking at dandelions the same way again. Who knew there were so many fascinating scientific discoveries waiting in our backyard?

About Me

I'm a homeschool mom of six. My family has been homeschooling for about seventeen years. And, each year, we've learned a little more about having fun, and spending less, while learning more. It's great to be a homeschooler!

Search This Blog

Follow by Email

About Copyright

I'm very happy to share ideas, and thoughts with you. I try to give credit to others when they inspire, or add instructions to a project, and ask that you do the same for me. You may copy ideas and pictures from this blog as long as you give credit and link back to the original post. Thanks

Disclosure Statement

Generally this blog is about sharing ideas parent to parent, and not trying to sell you things. I often mention products that I like, the children like, or we've found very useful, but unless specifically stated in the post, I am not being reimbursed for my opinions. There are advertisements (which I believe use cookies) on this blog, located outside of the posts. I do receive a small kick-back when you click on the ads, so please feel free to click on as many of them as you like.